In the current throw-caution-to-the-wind climate of Class A East cheering, a championship performance doesn’t have to meet that standard.

And even though Lynnette Morency and her Lewiston High School powerhouse admittedly helped create that atmosphere, the coach isn’t sure how she feels about it.

“A lot of people are stepping up their stunting skills, I don’t want to say to do what we do, but to up their degree of difficulty. It’s taking its effect on everyone,” Morency said. “It’s who drops the least amount of stunts and keeps their energy up. That’s what it’s coming down to, and that’s really sad. State champions shouldn’t be dropping stunts. Nobody should be winning a state title with dropped stunts.”

Perhaps, but clearly you can survive a few foibles and flaws and still wear the regional crown. Convincingly, if you’re the Blue Devils, who won their fifth consecutive Eastern Maine championship Saturday at Augusta Civic Center.

Biddeford (Class A West), Medomak Valley (Class B West) and Madison (Class C West) also took home regional titles from the 11-hour showcase.

Lewiston had two notable drops and a touchdown that cost points against the maximum total of 175. After deductions, the Devils’ score of 147.9 actually was lower than the 148.3 that won the KVAC championship in this auditorium five days earlier.

Runner-up Bangor (141) suffered the same fate, however. The Devils’ winning margin grew by more than two points from the conference meet.

“I think we had more energy today. I feel like we did,” Lewiston co-captain Abby Madden said. “We did drop stunts, but were able to pick it back up.”

Cheering’s weighted score sheet rewards teams whose stunts and tumbling passes are more intricate than others, essentially starting those teams with a higher base total. For years, most Lewiston opponents have known from the start that they had no chance to outscore the Devils.

That isn’t a money-in-the-bank detail that the champions wish to rely on. Not in an environment in which the Devils are competing not only their own exorbitant expectations but traditionally tough Bangor.

“They had their bobbles. We had our falls,” Morency said. “We had a tumbling touchdown. They had a couple of tumbling touchdowns. Degree of difficulty is carrying us over right now. The energy is negated by the dropped stunts.”

Both teams are relatively young. Bangor, led by Oxford Hills graduate Kate Robichaud, has five seniors. Lewiston has four, and freshmen and sophomores comprise two-thirds of the roster.

“There is a lot more pressure this year,” Lewiston co-captain Cassie Regner said. “I guess it’s adding up.”

Wait a minute, folks. There are still ample reasons for the Devils to smile.

The second block in their annual championship pyramid has been filled. Six straight KVAC titles and five successive regionals set up chances for four-in-a-row at states and third-time New England laurels.

Scores are still down compared to the Lewiston teams that built that tradition, but the Devils can look down the chart and see that everyone else is falling into the same trend.

“They looked like they were having (more fun) than they did last week,” Morency said. “We had a good week of practice. We can hit those opening stunts. We hit them all the time in practice. We’ve just got to hit them here when it counts.”

Brewer, the only team in the Class A top six without penalty point deductions, was a solid third at 129.8, one spot ahead of Hampden.

Oxford Hills and Edward Little finished fifth and sixth, respectively, also qualifying for Class A states.

In Class B West, Leavitt was runner-up to Medomak Valley for the second time in four years.

“It went awesome. It met my expectations,” Leavitt coach Brenda Perry said. “We had a lot of changes over the past week, and they really stepped up to the mat and did what they needed to do.”

Medomak, a team without any seniors, won its fourth straight regional with a score of 130.7. Leavitt checked in at 128.2. The Panthers and Hornets were second and third, respectively, in the KVAC meet behind Gardiner, which competes in the East.

“We took out a transition. We added another stunt,” Leavitt senior captain Nicole Bradley said. “We just tried to clean up whatever we had.”

“We were very stressed out and had a lot of anxiety, but I think we pulled through,” Hornets co-captain Madison Cote added. “We had a lot of faith.”

Spruce Mountain narrowly missed qualifying for the state meet, finishing two points behind Freeport for sixth place.

Madison stole the show with an upset in the Class C competition, but all five local schools in the draw also advanced to states.

Lisbon, Mountain Valley, Dirigo, Monmouth and St. Dom’s finished second through sixth, respectively.

Both the Bulldogs and Greyhounds vaulted over Mountain Valley and Dirigo, who were one-two in the MVC competition earlier this month. Madison, which was missing multiple cheerleaders due to illness at the time, skipped the conference meet.

Monmouth earned its state berth with only six healthy cheerleaders. Twenty is the maximum allowed on the floor.

Elsewhere in the state, Buckfield qualified for the Class D state competition by placing eighth in the combined East/West regional at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

Class B-C-D East champions were Hermon, Central-East Corinth and Central Aroostook.

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